Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => Featured Story of the Month => Topic started by: mare on April 01, 2011, 04:27:15 PM
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Hi all and Happy April Fool's Day lol
Julie has been featured a few times already, but since she won Best Author she was given another month and she chose Curtain Call for us to discuss so let's start out by reading chapters 1 - 13 this week. Julie I am not home yet and have my questions for you on my computer so i'll post those either tomorrow or later on tonight.
Feel free to ask Julie questions and comment on the story as you read along!
Happy Reading! :)
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LOL Yeah, it hasn't been that long since I was featured with Rose for Undead, but I'm flattered to be featured again because of the Felix Awards. So thanks! :)
Back when I found out about this, I was actually thinking Curtain Call might be done by now, and of course it's not LOL. But it's probably 2/3 of the way there, so there should be enough to discuss for those who want to.
If anyone reads it for the first time this month, I hope you enjoy! I'd love to know what you think! :)
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I think this would be my first time participating in a featured story discussion. But still I love Curtain Call. So Julie, where did you come up with the character of Cary and how did her personality come about? I love how you have written her being a small town girl.
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Aw, thanks, Tracy, for the compliment and the question! :)
So when I set out to create Cary, I knew I had to make her different from Claire, who is the female character in my "other cancer story," Broken. I was already afraid the two stories were going to be compared, so I wanted to be sure to make them as different as possible. Claire was very outgoing, blunt, funny, low maintenance, so I wanted to make Cary the opposite - quiet, reserved, sweet, and girly.
Cary's a lot more like me in terms of her personality, and as I added in details of her life, I used things that were familiar to me - small town, same state, and her dad was inspired by my own dad. I tried to make her sort of the "every fan" too, so readers, fellow BSB fans, would be able to relate to her.
Everything else came from thinking up her back story. Once I knew that her mom died of cancer when she was little, and so she was raised by her dad and her grandparents, I could add in other details that made sense - why she became a nurse, why she has a vintage style, why she likes to take care of people and the household and so on.
So that's basically how she came together. I'm glad you like the way she's written - thank you! :)
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Yay Julie!
No questions yet...but I wanted to be sure to celebrate your epicness in here. Go ZDR!
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LOL thanks, ZDR! Right back at ya - double epic all the way!
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My favorite thing about this story, is how you write Nick. Which in first person, is no easy task. Yet I feel like you manage to make him very manly lol, and very Nick. I feel like it's what helps elevate the story up another level. I loved Broken (and you know that), but personally I feel Curtain Call is a better story now. :)
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Thanks, Rose! That means a lot, 'cause that is probably the hardest part of writing this story. I don't write a lot of first person to begin with, but writing Cary's POV is usually pretty easy because she doesn't think much different from the way I do. Nick, on the other hand, is very different and hard to relate to in every way; I have an easier time writing him from other characters' POVs than actually writing from his, but I wanted to tell his side of the story, so I try my best to get into his head.
I agree with what you said about him being more manly, even if that means he acts like an idiot LOL. Especially compared to Broken, though; I love Broken Nick, but he was way more of a pussy LOL. I think that's just the difference in me as a person; I was a melodramatic teenager when I wrote Broken, and I'm not quite like that anymore, so the story and characters aren't so melodramatic either. Broken will always be my baby, but to me, that's the big factor that would make CC better. Thanks! :)
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Exactly, the Boys are hard to capture sometimes in 3rd person, let alone first. But I love how you did it. And LOL@Broken Nick being more of a pussy. It's true, but it's okay *pets him* you cut off his leg.
So, tell us one thing about the story that no one knows, or few know? (That you can reveal anyway.)
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I agree with Rose, I do love how you have written Nick in this story....and the other boys as well. I also enjoyed reading how Nick and Cary's relationship developed in the course of the story so far. It seemed to flow very nicely. I never read Broken, so I can't compare notes. I think you have captured Nick's personality quite well in this story!
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Congrats on being featured this month, Julie! I love Curtain Call, and I love Cary in that story so it's interesting to see how you came up with her character. Was there a particular reason you decided to set this story in the TIU era? Was it just because it was the most recent, or were there other factors?
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Hey Julie,
Here are a few questions for you. First of all congrats on the best author win! What went through your mind when you found out you won that?
Onto the story:
Where did you come up with the idea for Curtain Call and how soon after your initial idea did you start to write it?
I know you have mentioned before you aren't comfortable writing in first person, so why did you choose first person for this story?
Did you base Cary off of anyone in particular?
What made you go with cancer again and was it a tough decision considering the popularity of Broken?
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Yay Julie, I love Curtain Call. Will have to think of some questions for you :)
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Exactly, the Boys are hard to capture sometimes in 3rd person, let alone first. But I love how you did it. And LOL@Broken Nick being more of a pussy. It's true, but it's okay *pets him* you cut off his leg.
So, tell us one thing about the story that no one knows, or few know? (That you can reveal anyway.)
LOL yeah, not like he doesn't have an excuse... :D
Hm... something few know... like that I was going to call it either "On With the Show" or "The Show Must Go On," until you suggested "Curtain Call"? LOL I was like, "Oh! Yeah! That's so much better!" I had just been listening to that Queen song on repeat for probably hours as I researched and planned.
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I agree with Rose, I do love how you have written Nick in this story....and the other boys as well. I also enjoyed reading how Nick and Cary's relationship developed in the course of the story so far. It seemed to flow very nicely. I never read Broken, so I can't compare notes. I think you have captured Nick's personality quite well in this story!
Thank you! I'm glad you like the way Nick and Cary's relationship has developed; I wasn't sure how that was going to go or if they had the right chemistry for it, so I appreciate that! :)
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Congrats on being featured this month, Julie! I love Curtain Call, and I love Cary in that story so it's interesting to see how you came up with her character. Was there a particular reason you decided to set this story in the TIU era? Was it just because it was the most recent, or were there other factors?
Thanks, Steph!
Good question! I think my original thought was to make it TIU because it was current; I started this last summer, when the US tour was still happening. I didn't want to set the story in the future because I knew so much of it would involve them touring, and I didn't want to have to make up all the details of that - a fictional new album, new songs, different tour schedule. Part of the fun in it was researching and using as many true details as I could work in.
I did toy with the idea of setting it during the Unbreakable tour instead. I even made an outline that way to see how the timeline I was envisioning would match up with the Unbreakable tour schedule, but I think in the end the TIU one worked better, and I liked the idea of keeping it more current so that it seemed more plausible, like he could have been keeping this secret from fans the whole time, sick as that is LOL. I like sticking to reality as much as I can; I don't like to go back and completely change the past. Obviously by now, the story's taken that fork in the road and is no longer following reality, but I stuck to it for as long as I could.
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Yay Julie, I love Curtain Call. Will have to think of some questions for you :)
Thanks Steph! :)
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Hey Julie,
Here are a few questions for you. First of all congrats on the best author win! What went through your mind when you found out you won that?
Thanks, Mare!
I was really excited to win Best Author! It felt good, especially because I had been nominated in that category before and gotten runner-up I think the past two years. That was great, too, but it was nice to get the win this time, and now that will open up a spot for someone else to be nominated LOL.
Onto the story:
Where did you come up with the idea for Curtain Call and how soon after your initial idea did you start to write it?
I got this idea 100% from watching the movie Funny People. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a veteran comedian, played by Adam Sandler, who finds out he has cancer and doesn't tell anyone, but he hires an aspiring comedian, Seth Rogen, to be his personal assistant and confides in him. They develop an interesting friendship where Adam's character mentors Seth's and gives him all these opportunities, but Seth's character obviously helps him deal with things, too. It's a good movie, and I liked the premise and that relationship between the characters. Being that it was about a celebrity, of course I started thinking about how it would be easy to get a fanfic idea out of that, and BAM, there it was.
I loved the idea of Nick taking an aspiring singer under his wing, but of course for ulterior motives. I knew it had to be a girl because if I'm gonna write bromance in a BSB fanfic, it's gotta be with another BSB - no point in making up a fictional male character. I went a step further and made her a nurse practitioner so she could be more than just a personal assistant for him. I put her on American Idol solely as a way for him to "discover" her, and I made her a Backstreet fan so that she would actually go along with his plan.
The idea would not get out of my head, so I played with it for a few days, researching and plotting the story and developing the characters, before I actually started writing. I waited until I had the first six chapters written before I started posting, but that only took like a week - I churned out a chapter of this thing a day; that's how inspired I was for it LOL. It just would not leave me alone.
I know you have mentioned before you aren't comfortable writing in first person, so why did you choose first person for this story?
I don't really know why, but this story always felt like a first person story to me. It's weird because I think I only have one other novel written in first person, and that was ten years ago. Except for a few short stories, I really don't write in first person. I think I figured it would make it seem more realistic and less melodramatic. I wanted to separate it from Broken, and writing it in first person seemed like big good way to make it different. It's changed the whole tone of the story.
Did you base Cary off of anyone in particular?
No, my main goal for her originally was to just make her the anti-Claire LOL. I based her look on Zooey Deschanel, who I love because she has that cute, sort of quirky, vintage style and singing voice. But the rest of her character just came together piece by piece, the way I talked about earlier.
What made you go with cancer again and was it a tough decision considering the popularity of Broken?
LOL I agonized over that decision for exactly that reason. I basically racked my brain and scoured the internet, looking for anything OTHER than cancer that would work for this idea. I told Rose about it, and she helped me look too. There was just nothing else that fit all the criteria I needed. So I reluctantly went with cancer again, though a different type and different direction. There are obvious similarities between this one and Broken, but from plot to style to just overall feel, the two stories are really different.
Thanks for the questions, Mare!
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LOL yeah, not like he doesn't have an excuse... :D
Hm... something few know... like that I was going to call it either "On With the Show" or "The Show Must Go On," until you suggested "Curtain Call"? LOL I was like, "Oh! Yeah! That's so much better!" I had just been listening to that Queen song on repeat for probably hours as I researched and planned.
It's okay. Choppage is fun! :D (And maiming, dismemberment, scarring...)
LOL! I remember that, and how for some reason neither of us were happy with those titles (even though for me it wasn't even my story lmao.) I forget how I came up with Curtain Call. But I still love the title, it just fits. :)
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LOL I agonized over that decision for exactly that reason. I basically racked my brain and scoured the internet, looking for anything OTHER than cancer that would work for this idea. I told Rose about it, and she helped me look too. There was just nothing else that fit all the criteria I needed. So I reluctantly went with cancer again, though a different type and different direction. There are obvious similarities between this one and Broken, but from plot to style to just overall feel, the two stories are really different.
I remember this, and warning you myself about possible Broken comparisons.
As for other diseases...OMG no kidding! We spent hours trying to find another disease. Sadly there's just not that many "easy" to hide terminal diseases. :( lmao. The funny thing of course is that the only other one besides Cancer that kept coming up in our searches was Alzheimer's. Go figure!
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I was just afraid people either wouldn't want to read this one because of Broken or would think, "Wow, she's really looking to recreate the magic, writing another one of these stories." LOL
But actually, the response has been great, because people who did read Broken say that this one is different, and a lot of my readers of this one haven't even read Broken because it's so old. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but I started Broken 8 years ago. And then I made a point to go outside my comfort zone to write different kinds of stories after I finished BMS, with 00Carter and Undead and Guilty Roads, so I figure it was time for me to write another hurt/comfort type medical drama anyway. :) Apparently that's what people like from me best, cause wow, this one has gotten way more reviews than any of my other stories!
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It's okay. Choppage is fun! :D (And maiming, dismemberment, scarring...)
LOL! I remember that, and how for some reason neither of us were happy with those titles (even though for me it wasn't even my story lmao.) I forget how I came up with Curtain Call. But I still love the title, it just fits. :)
Um, yeah!!
The other titles were cheesy LOL. I thought so, but I couldn't think of anything else that I liked that fit. Curtain Call was perfect!
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Yay, I'm really glad that CC got featured. I've already gushed to you endlessly about how much I love it. I think my favorite aspect of this story is that it follows the TIU tour so closely. I loved how you tied actual events into the storyline. The one that gets me the most is the Boys singing Shattered as Michael McDonald. That video just cracks me up, but now when I watch it, I have to remind myself that it isn't CC Nick and the Boys on stage singing.
I'm not sure if you can answer this, but is Cary ever going to get on stage again? I know Cary's concerns about being Nick's caretaker came up recently but, of course, she wants to be there for Nick and help him. Would you say that the stress of her "double-life" while touring with BSB affected her desire to perform?
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Thanks, Christine! You always leave the most detailed, thoughtful reviews; I really appreciate that!
Part of the challenge, but also part of the fun of this story was sticking to the TIU schedule and trying to weave in actual events with the fictional ones. The way I outlined this story was basically with a timeline, where I filled in all the real tour dates and looked at where they overlapped with Nick's treatment schedule, and that was usually how I got ideas for what could happen and when. Like that soundcheck Nick missed toward the end of that first leg... I knew something had to go down in the story then, that that would be his breaking point. For the other shows, I would go look at threads on the fan club and TDS to read people's reviews and see what memorable stuff happened that I could try to work in, and of course I used YouTube, especially for the soundchecks. I knew I definitely had to do the soundcheck where they sang Shattered that way; that video still cracks me up!
Good question about Cary getting back on stage. I'm not sure I can answer it either, because I don't know for sure yet myself. I think for now she's content to take a break from it to be there for Nick, and whether or how soon she gets back on stage will depend on how things go for him. She loves performing and was grateful for the opportunity, and I think if she was able to, she'd go further with the whole music career, but at the end of the day, she loves her day job too, so I don't think she'd be devastated if it didn't work out. She really had given up on the music thing until American Idol came along, so for her, this is just like an added bonus to that whole experience.
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How did you come up with the scene where Nick reveals to Cary his illness, because I loved how it transpired!
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Thanks! I don't remember exactly, except that I wanted to get it out there quickly, so that the story could move forward, so I figured he would probably have to be drunk to just put it out there so soon after meeting her. I don't know how I came up with the idea of him taking off his shirt to show her, instead of just saying it, but I thought, in a way, it might be easier for him that way. Then I thought of how she would think that he was going to force himself on her at first, and I thought that was funny, so I went with it. It was more interesting than just having him say it out of the blue. Glad you liked it!
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Hey all!
It's time to read the second set of chapters! Great questions everyone! It makes my job easier! lol
Okay we are reading chapters 14 - 26 this week!
Same as always, any questions or comments feel free to post and i'm sure Julie will answer when she gets the chance!
Happy Reading! :)
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How much research did you do for the story? What kind of research did you do?
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Yeah, I love all the comments and questions coming in this month - thanks, guys! :)
I am pretty hardcore about research. I spent days researching before I really even got into the writing of this one, in order to outline it, and then I look up stuff as needed as I write. I do most of my research online; I have 140 pages bookmarked in my Curtain Call file right now LOL. A lot of them are medical sites or articles; my favorite is EMedicine because it's very detailed and specific. I usually start with Wikipedia for overviews of stuff and then cross-reference with other, more reliable sites. A lot of what I look up isn't even medical stuff, but info on the music business, cities and places, concert venues, specific shows, etc.
With this story in particular, I've been really anal because it's set in the recent past (summer 2010), and so I've been trying to use as many real details as possible just because I know I can. One site I've used a lot with this story is Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/history/), which gives you historical weather data... so since this story has been aligned with the dates of the TIU tour last summer, I can plug in a specific date and city and find out what the weather was like then. Another one I discovered is TV Tango (http://www.tvtango.com/listings/), where you can look up historical TV listings, to find out what was on primetime TV on certain nights. I kind of enjoy the challenge of trying to find really specific information and being as true-to-life as I can, while writing a fictional premise. You can find pretty much anything on the internet these days, so it's usually not that hard!
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What made you go with American Idol as the show of choice and what made you decide to make Cary a surper fan before she met
Nick and not after she got to know him?
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I went with American Idol just because it's the most popular show like that, where he could happen to watch and see her on it. I was a little nervous about that decision because Idol is such a polarizing show; people seem to either love it or hate it, and I didn't want the haters to get the wrong idea. Idol really has very little to do with the story; it's just a plot device in the beginning. She gets voted off in the first chapter, so it's just mentioned after that.
I knew Cary had to be a fan before she met Nick because otherwise, she would never agree to what he was asking her to do. Nick is actually really manipulative in this story, but it's only because he's so charming that he gets away with it. She had to have that fan's admiration of him in order to cloud her better judgment and get her to just go with it LOL.
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I have to say that I love how you weave in the real world events. It makes everything seem that much more realistic, and it's something I try really hard to do with my stories as well. You seem to do it so effortlessly! I also really like when you occasionally will link up youtube videos at the end. It's like a fun little bonus after having read the chapter. I think you only did this once or twice, but I really liked that.
Did you ever toy with the idea of the rest of the guys finding out accidentally instead of Nick telling them about his illness himself? There were a few scenes where I was holding my breath thinking that they would find out. One in particular, with AJ coming into their hotel room comes to mind.
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Thanks, Steph! I love how you do that with your stories, too, especially Running Up That Hill. I will read AUs, but I really prefer stories that are based in Backstreet reality, so I try to do that as a writer, too.
Glad you liked the YouTube videos at the end LOL. I just did that so people could get a visual (or audio) of what I was trying to describe in the scene, in case they hadn't seen/heard it. It makes more sense that way, cause trying to describe how someone sings something is tough!
I did toy with the idea of them finding out accidentally, but I decided that Nick needed to tell them himself in this one. In Broken, they found out accidentally - well, Brian did, which led to the other guys finding out - so I wanted to do it differently this time. I felt like it would be better for Nick if he had to make the tough, but right choice to come clean himself. Granted, he waited a helluva long time to do it LOL, and he had to hit his breaking point before he did, but still, it was his choice. I did put those few close calls in there to keep you guys guessing and make it clear how hard and risky it is to keep a secret like that from people you're so close to.
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I loved how you put little things in there too like the youtube videos and stuff. Everything was very accurate and I love the Michael McDonald stuff cause it was at my show that he did that. I wasn't at the soundcheck but it was fun to see it mentioned. I also liked Cary's backstory with her mom, what inspired that?
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Thanks! I don't remember exactly what sparked the story of Cary's mom, but it came fairly early on in the planning process, because I figured out so many other things from that. I think it was when I was trying to figure out what she did for a living and why. I knew she had to be some kind of medical professional; I went with a nurse practitioner because it's kind of in between a nurse and a doctor - she'd have more knowledge and skills than a nurse, without as many responsibiliti es as a doctor. I think it was during the research process for that that I thought of having her work in a nursing home, and then I started thinking about why she would choose that, since I think it takes a special type of person to do that kind of work. That was when I came up with the whole story of how her mom died when she was little, so her grandparents helped raise her, and she spent so much time with them, even after they moved into a nursing home themselves, that she enjoys being around the elderly. To have her mom have died of cancer just felt like coming full circle; it gave her a deeper connection with Nick and even more of a reason to want to help him, but it also makes it harder and more tragic for her, to see him go through that when she's already lost someone she loved to the same thing. I love tragic, so it worked out perfectly LOL.
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okay gang, time to start reading the next set of chapters 27 - 50
I'm loving everyone's questions so keep them coming!
:)
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congrats on the story of the month. I am way behind. I'll get caught up. LOL
I'll think of some questions later but most of mine have been asked/answered already.
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Thanks, Lore!
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Who did you model Cary's musical style after? Why folk pop instead of bubblegum/dance pop?
The sexual tension between Nick and Cary was clear through the whole tour. With them pretending to be a couple anyway, why didn't they ever give in to it?
Where did the idea for the caffeine overdose come from?
How hard was it to write the tour wrap up and Nick and Cary parting ways?
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I modeled Cary a little after Zooey Deschanel, who, in addition to the look I was going over, also has that old-fashioned kind of singing voice that I like. I thought that was more interesting and fitting of the "old soul" kind of personality I wanted her to have than bubblegum pop - plus, I really didn't want this to seem like another late 90s Mary Sue teenybopper fanfic, which the first few chapters already seem like LOL (though hopefully more well-written).
I think there's a certain awkwardness to Nick and Cary's relationship. It has so many dimensions - there's the fan/celebrity relationship, the "nurse/patient" relationship, and then the friends/more than friends? situation. All of that makes it complicated. Cary was taken with Nick from the moment she met him and has had a crush on him the whole story, but with her more reserved personality and also her professionalis m, I knew she would never act on it. If anything was going to happen between them, Nick had to make the first move. I think he would have sooner, had he not been in the position of being sick and being taken care of by her. That made it more awkward for him, too. He basically took advantage of her in every other way LOL, but not in that way; I guess that would have been crossing a line for him.
The caffeine overdose... I don't really remember, although I'm sure it had something to do with my many late nights drinking mass quantities of Code Red Mountain Dew LOL. I think I'd just shown Nick drinking Red Bull to keep himself energized in a few scenes and thought that, on top of everything else his body was going through, if he kept doing that, it couldn't be good. Then I found this fun website! http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine It would take 214.86 cans of Code Red to kill me.
:bananapower:
Writing the end of the tour really wasn't hard at all because I knew they would be back together before long. I was happy to see the tour end so I could move on to the next phase of the story. I'll be honest; even though I knew the bulk of this story was going to be on tour, I usually hate writing performance scenes LOL, so I was dreading that aspect of the tour and was glad when it was over.
Thanks for the questions, Mare! :)
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Congrats Julie!!!
Curtain Call is an awesome story!! Unfortunately, I didn't get very far with it, but I loved the way you portrayed Nick and his pain. It felt so real to me. One of these days I will catch up and read it all. ;)
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Thanks Erika! :) I'm glad you liked what you read of it, and hopefully you'll get a chance to read further at some point.
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Well, believe it or not we're coming down to the home stretch for April, so let's conclude Curtain Call by reading chapters 51 - the current one posted.
As always feel free to post your questions and comments to Julie right here!
The first question that comes to mind for me Julie is, what made you decided to include Kevin in this? And how did you come up with the idea of the boat scene when Nick reveals his cancer to Kevin.
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I definitely wanted to include Kevin; to me, he'll always be a Backstreet Boy, and I couldn't imagine Nick going through something like this without Kevin being involved, once the other guys found out. It just took awhile to get him in the story, since he wasn't on tour with them. *kicks Kevin*
I don't know why, but I just had this image of Nick and Kevin grilling steaks together when Nick told him, in the most off-handed way possible. I was going between either Nick inviting Kevin over for dinner or inviting himself to Kevin's place, but then I liked the boat idea better.
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I did manage to update at least once during my featured month, so you can read up through Chapter 62 now. LOL Hopefully I'll be able to get at least one more chapter up before the end of the month. :)
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So glad to see that Julie's story was featured this month! :dance:
Julie -- Oh my goodness, where to start??
I actually just started reading this story last week after being absent from the forums for a little while. I can't even begin to tell you how close to home it's hitting right now.
Your story is so emotionally raw and honest and I love what you have done with both Nick and Cary's characters in this story. You have done an incredible job. I always loved Broken, but hands down... this story show how you've matured as a writer and I'm loving it even more. I don't find myself comparing like I thought at first I might. You've done that great of a job.
I'm especially touched by the chapters where you let us into Nick's mind... his fears and his concerns and his thoughts. I don't think anyone can really know how they would feel about a cancer diagnosis until it happens to them. I know I never realized until my own diagnosis just last month how insanely scary and emotional it can be. I mean, I knew it would suck for anyone... but I never really KNEW. And trust me when I say... it's scary as hell, if not scarier. Having a doctor call you on the phone (in my case) or into their office or however and tell you the words "It's cancer"... or in my own case "It's malignant melanoma".
I was lucky enough to have caught my own cancer very early, have surgery and hopefully never have to deal with it again... but it still scared me to death. I can easily see where many individuals would feel like Nick does in this story after diagnosis.
I hope you keep writing this one because I definitely want to keep reading!
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Omg Rachel, I had no idea... That had to be the scariest moment of your life. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but glad to hear that it was caught early and treated and hopefully taken care of. Still, I can't imagine how scary that must have been.
I don't know what that's like firsthand, so I just try my best to put myself in my character's shoes and imagine. It's kind of a safe way to work through a worst-case scenario that someone could go through. Honestly, getting a life-threatening illness - or worse, one of my loved ones getting it - is like my biggest fear, and I think that's a big part of why I read and write stories like this; it's a way of facing that fear.
A friend that I work with was diagnosed with stage IV cancer back in January, and it's been rough coping with that. I wasn't sure how that was going to affect me and this story at first, but I'm glad I've been able to keep writing it. Obviously I can separate reality and fanfiction, but it is hard when it hits close to home.
That said, it means a lot to me that you actually wanted to read this story after going through your own experience, and it means even more that you were touched by Nick's thoughts and found them realistic. His head has been a hard one to get into this story; Cary is easy, but he has been tough, actually a lot tougher than I remember Broken being (but that could be the first person POV too). It's been a good challenge for me, so it's really rewarding to get that kind of feedback, especially from someone who's been there, in a sense. Not to mention, you're a great writer of tearjerkers too, so it's always awesome to get feedback from a fellow writer who knows the genre. :)
I will definitely keep writing this one and plan on finishing it over the summer.
Thanks so much, Rachel!!
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Honestly, even knowing what it's like firsthand I don't think I could sit down and write a really accurate discription of exactly how I felt at the moment I was told -- or the hours following (I literally was told over the phone at 8 am and had had my surgery in office, which was a Wide Local Excision, by 1 that afternoon). The scariest part for me was the time in between being told when all they said was "It's not good news... it's malignant melanoma and you need to come in for surgery this afternoon..." and finding out that I was lucky enough to catch it early (stage I). All I could think of in those few hours in between though was the research I'd done since I'd had my biopsy -- damn that google! and damn Grey's Anatomy too!!! and how bad melanoma CAN be.
But the honest to God fear I felt... I could never put that into words.
Considering everyone is different though, you've done an awesome job with how an individual might feel. And considering I've written a story myself (the Nick and Grace series) involving a character with cancer, I know how hard it can be trying to work out how a character might feel in any situation like that.
I'm just now getting to the part of the story where Nick and Cary get together and I can't stop reading! I have truly found myself crying for the characters (which I don't do too often!) and that says a lot!
Can't wait to read more!
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Wow, that moved fast, but I guess that's a good thing, when all you're doing in between is waiting and worrying. I would be the same way... I'm kind of a hypochondriac anyway, not a hardcore one, but I worry about stuff anyway, so to actually have something valid to Google and scare myself more with would be awful. Again, I'm just glad they caught yours at stage 1 and got rid of it!
Thanks again for all your compliments; I really appreciate it! And it's a huge compliment to me when someone says they've cried over one of my stories (even though that sounds terrible, but I'm sure you know how that is, with your stories LOL), so thank you for that too!
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I've been so MIA! Just wanted to say how much I love this story. As usual, you do such an amazing job with all the medical and technical stuff. I also love the way the story is written. The beginning was epic...I love how you introduced his illness...it gave me chills! And I'm glad that we get to see both of their POVs.
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Thanks, Sel! I've been pretty hardcore with my research for this story; weird as it sounds, it's kind of a fun challenge for me. I'm glad you liked the beginning... I never want to give away too much information, so I liked the idea of having the readers find out the same way Cary did, but then it was also nice to go back and tell Nick's side of the story leading up to that point. Originally I wasn't sure if I was going to use both POVs or just write the whole thing in Cary's, but I'm glad I decided to write in Nick's, too, even though his is a lot harder to write in. I think it adds to the story, to be able to show both sides. Glad you're still enjoying it. Thanks again!
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I can't believe it's the last day of the month already. Boo to your month being over but YAY to it being May!! lol
Anyway, now's the time to get your last comments in on this story. :)
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It went quick, but I'm super glad it's almost May too because that means June is next!! Thanks again for featuring me this month, and thanks to everyone who posted comments/questions. I enjoyed it! :)
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I really couldn't think of any questions that hadn't already been asked! But I do love this story SO much and always look forward to seeing updates. You put so much detail into it, it seems so real, it's hard to imagine that it's a story!
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Thanks, Steph! I got the next chapter going last night and am hoping to finish it this weekend, so hopefully you'll have another update to read soon.